The Alabama metro area nearest to Birmingham-Hoover in terms of per capita income is Huntsville. Its residents earned $690 less per person in 2011, or $40,126.

The gap between Birmingham and Huntsville has widened in recent years. In 2009, the per capita personal incomes for each metro were only $188 apart, according to the BEA.

The same is true when comparing Birmingham to any of Alabama's other metro areas, including Auburn-Opelika, Alabama's poorest metro area for 2011. Its residents earned $29,208 per person that year, the only Alabama metro with a per capita personal income below $30,000 and the 351st out of 366 metro areas across the U.S. by that measure.

In 2009, the difference in per capita incomes between Birmingham and Auburn was $10,194. In 2011, the gap widened to $11,608.

Across the U.S., the Birmingham-Hoover metro area ranked in the top 25 percent in terms of per capita personal income in 2011. No other Alabama metro area made that list -- although Huntsville missed just narrowly. Birmingham-Hoover was 90th overall, while Huntsville was 102nd.

The highest-earning metro area in the U.S. was Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn. Its residents earned $78,504 per person in 2011. The lowest-earning metro area was McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas, where residents earned $21,620 per person.

All 11 Alabama metro areas fell below the U.S. average in terms of per capita personal income. And five of the 11 metros were in the bottom 20 percent of all metro areas, including Decatur, which ranked 300th out of 366.

Incomes are almost certainly lower for those Alabamians that do not live in or near a major metro area. Across the U.S., metro area residents earned $43,169 on average, compared to $33,240 for non-metro area residents, a difference of nearly $1,000.